Out of stock!

Blog entry for May 2012

This is the quiet end of the year. Not just that sales are slow — this is also the time when the manufacturers are deciding which puzzles to keep in production for the new catalogs being issued. The result is a record number of puzzles out of stock, and in limbo between being discontinued and reissued.

So what, exactly, do the availability legends by each puzzle mean?

• In stock: We have the puzzle in stock, ready to send (at least, except for the 1 in 1000 occasion when we have made a mistake!)
• Out of stock: We do not have any stock. Normally we will order more within a week, and there will be an indication "More stock expected (date)". But "Resupply date uncertain" means that we have tried to get more, and have no specific information from the manufacturers of when, or whether, the puzzle will be reissued.
• Special order: This refers to a puzzle we do not normally keep in stock, but can order (which usually takes around a week). [*]
• Permanently unavailable: We have been told by the manufacturers that the puzzle has been deleted. Normally this really means "no more", though very occasionally the more capricious manufacturers (Yanoman, mostly) may suddenly revive a long-gone puzzle.

There is also currently some uncertainty over the Apollo brand Peanuts puzzles. Having been taken over by Epoch, it looks as though there will be "rationalization" (that dreadful word...) and some of the long sellers may disappear. But new Epoch-branded Peanuts puzzles are starting to appear in larger sizes (1000+).

* Please note that we use "special order" to mean ordering puzzles we do not keep in stock. We do not have any way of ordering "special editions" of puzzles in different sizes from those in the catalog.